A golf society for residents and friends at Condado de Alhama

Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Well, it’s goodbye to Dave Lloyd this week, although he will take up his role as President for the next 12 months. Dave has overseen a very successful year for the society which although everything is in place, still has to be managed and focused.

We wish Neil a very successful year and hopefully a good golfing one (with a lower handicap!) now that he is retired? And welcome to Ken Saunders, who will be Neil’s vice-captain.

Also Dave Rollett has now fulfilled his 3 year stint as vice-captain, captain and president and we offer him our heartfelt thanks for a job well done. He will still be very active on the committee, looking after competitions and online bookings.

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Looks there is a problem with Dave Rollett’s email address, so until it is sorted please send booking requests to me at barry@cdagolf.com

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A change in the weather I am afraid, with heavy clouds and overnight rain for the 47 players. It said rain would be nearby, but by the time the first group reached hole 11 it was overhead, and umbrellas were needed to combat the heavy drizzle which penetrated everything. I really picked a good day to be starter as I don’t play if I am due to be out last!

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the rain has just started on hole 10, the mountains are obscured by the mist……………….

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Basically, it was an individual stableford, but all 4 scores from the 4 ball were added together to get a team total. Teams with only 3 players were allowed to choose a ghost card at random to make up their total score.

The weather didn’t seem to affect play, with lots of good individual scoring. The competition (although a team event) was a qualifier for handicapping purposes, so quite a few got a cut without being in the prizes!

1st ……………………….156pts

Jim Alwell, Paul Harrington, Peter Beatt, Neil Simpson

2nd ………………………139pts

Jan Holdhus, Eli Holdhus, Ole Martin Saeter, Jeff Ruellan

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And here are the winners – they made little of the conditions with the lowest score being 35 points!

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Neil Simpson, Paul Harrington, Peter Beatt & Jim Alwell were first out and had the brollies up by hole 11………………

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and drier back in the Clover………………..

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Jan, Eli & Ole Martin……..

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they are glad that is over…………..

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Next week is President’s Day – the 3rd major of the year. Get your name down, spaces are limited.

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Message from Jan Skjold re Viking cup 2016

Scandinavian players wanting to enter in this year’s competition and having played last year must register within 30.06.2016 to be guaranteed a place in the competition.

contact jandskjold@gmail.com

UK & Ireland contact kevin@cdagolf.com

This week it was very nice to receive advanced notice of planned work on the course, Enrique informed us of work on the lake at hole 4.

‘I just wanted to inform you that we are doing some maintenance tasks on the lake near the 4th hole and due to that it will be empty during several weeks. One month ago we saw that there was some water on the soil surrounding the lake so we started inspecting from where it could come from. Apart from several big stones that someone has thrown in the lake damaging the bottom, we noticed that some big bushes were growing in the lake and their roots were damaging the lining, so we need to clean all that and repair it. I hope we can finish all the tasks soon and restore the lake to its correct water level.’

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I also asked about the disappearance of water from the lake on hole 13 and got the following reply.

‘The problem with the water in lake 13th has been only a temporary problem of resources; we have been supplying the irrigation water for the owners community and we will finish on Thursday the 28th of April. From then we will begin to refill the 13th hole lake again until it is restored to the correct level. Unfortunately we have the same pipe for both the community and the golf and we have to share its use.’

If we continue to receive information like this it should help stop negative comments about course maintenance.

Dave Lloyd is a little ‘mutton Jeff’. This is the type of conversation he has at committee meetings………….

Just got back from an excellent evening celebration at the club house where Dave Lloyd of the Golf Society Committee celebrated his victory in the 2nd Division of the IRM/Murcia Golf Federation competition.

The competition was played over 2 days, the first at Hacienda Riquelme Golf course and the 2nd day at our very own Condado de Alhama course. Dave lead the field after the 1st days play and completed todays round in 83 shots which on aggregate gave him a 9 shot lead over the 2nd placed player.

The overall winner, with the lowest scratch score was the Junior Division winner Connor Stewart (whose parents run Country Kitchens at El Pereton and formally provided the excellent food at Camposol golf club). Well done Connor!
After the presentations we were treated to free drinks and an array of delicious tempting tapas on the terrace of which our favourite had to be dates stuffed with almonds and wrapped with crispy bacon, delicious.

Carlos and David with the team captains George Fidler and Graham White........

some of our team look quite happy now they have a cold one...........

after we lost Graham enters the turdis to head for another dimension.....

The match went ahead yesterday after several hiccups. 4 of our side did not arrive as promised although we got 3 late replacements. This meant that the competition was 19 players on each side. After the first 7 games the teams were neck and neck, but the last 3 games saw the mar menor team post some great scores whilst our team faded away. With mar menor having 20 players one of their cards was drawn out by Graham to be discounted. This was the highlight of his day. Following an uncharacteristic poor score he redeemed himself by drawing out their best score to be discarded!

Mar Menor 591 pts
Condado 513 pts

There was some confusion up to the last minute about the format. One minute it was match play hole by hole with one point for the victors, then it was a total of all the cards. That was actually very interesting as my partnership with Dave Dale against Terry and Bob (the likely lads!) would have had differing results. Matchplay they would have won 2 & 1 whilst combined points we won by 1 point!

I won’t publish the individual scores to avoid the blushes of some of the players!

This convincing victory means will will want revenge when the teams meet again.

The game was followed by a serving of paella and beers in the Park bar in Roldan for both teams. It was nice to socialise sat out in the evening sunshine with a cold beer.

The Olagolf trophy was presented by Carlos Beautell (golf manager – Olagolf). It was an impressive crystal ball atop a pillar. Each player on the winning team was also presented with a cut glass momento. Many thanks to David Kettley who organised the competition and coped admirably with all the twists and turns to get the game off the ground.

The Mar Menor team will be in action at Condado tomorrow in an away day event.

It was interesting to discover that Mar Menor are expecting work on a clubhouse for them in the area between the 6th and 7th holes (by the tennis courts).

After many attempts to get Olagolf to respond to our issues we finally managed to get a meeting last week. Some issues were easily resolved whilst others required some hard bargaining.

This is what was agreed:

Courtesy of the course for our captain on society competition days (monday and friday at present) which is what the organiser of visiting societies receive.

A trial of 07.30 start for golfers wishing to finish early to spend time with families etc. (however not agreed by olagolf staff).

A maintenance building for the greens staff will shortly be erected on the waste land between the 3rd tee and the old sales office (not a clubhouse as others have suggested!).

When our course is closed olagolf members will be able to play Saurines for the same fee as Condado (7 euros).

If the condition of our course is still poor after hollow tining olagolf members will play for the 9 hole price of 4.5 euros until it is in better condition.

Olagolf will provide a trophy for anyone achieving a hole in one. Stock will be bought so that it may be presented immediately. Once a cxlubhouse is in place we will have a commemorative board recording the event.

Olagolf will look at installing better walkways between greens and tees to shorten distances for walking golfers. However, the head greenkeeper will not concrete these areas.

Markers for societies will be provided for nearest the pin and longest drive when required.

It was agreed that we can leave our competition scorecards on the counter in the shop to be collected by golfers. Kevin Smith has made a notice saying ‘scorecards here’. The staff are not responsible for this but hopefully will inform players when they pay the greenfee.

They will also provide a box outside the shop (next to the buggy key drop box) for completed cards after the round. We have players arriving at the town center after their round to find no one there, so they go home and don’t return their cards. At the moment the final time to submit cards is 16.45 after which they will be collected and checked by us. We will have the only key. Olagolf staff are not responsible for this.

Again news on the clubhouse has changed. We will not get a temporary clubhouse – the intention is for the banks to acquire the land over the 9th/18th and erect a permanent structure. It has been obvious for some time that this is the key element missing in our Jack Nicklaus signature course offer. Visitors are not told in any advertising that there is no clubhouse and hence many will not return. Also the European PGA tour committee have visited the course and were very impressed with the course and overall setup but the lack of a permanent clubhouse will deter them from bring their competitions to Condado.

We could not get Olagolf to budge from their summer prices of 40 euros including buggy for the society even though the rates for visitors and residents have fallen to 50 euros and 45 euros respectively.

All in all though, we feel that they have given ground on almost everything else we proposed and now feel that our society is being given the respect it deserves. Mondays and fridays we bring a total of between 70 and 80 players – and from this week we will arrange golf on wednesdays to see if there is a demand for that. It could be we arrange 2 comps on that day – one at Condado, which may suit club members and occasionally one at Hacienda (35 euros) which may prove attractive for our visiting members.

This week we were back to the individual stableford. 36 players took part but the bad weather forecast for the day frightened off a few players so it could have been more. As it happened, the rains never came and the day was fine but cold. The chill caught a few hardy players out – although for a few holes the sun came out and others then looked overdressed!

A few players in the 1st division will be regretting those missed putts which at the time didn’t seem to matter with such achievable scores taking the money.

The new society constitution began on March 1st so all players needed to be members to play with the society. Anyone who has not joined please pay your 5 euros on Wednesday night or as a last resort in the Clover before the presentation. You will then get a membership card which will be useful as you will find out later. The new membership list on this website will now only show paid up members so if friends or relations are coming over get them to pay for you.

Since last week the lakes by the 10th and 13th have been filled and now look much better, although it would be nice if the green slime around the edges was removed. The lower lakes on the 4th, 5th and 18th are still very low. The greens are in great condition, very fast and almost unplayable with tricky pin positions. The swallows have arrived, so summer might be on the way.

We have recently discovered that other societies visiting Condado are given free golf for the organiser and golf vouchers for prizes. I have emailed Olagolf several times over the last 3 weeks asking for similar treatment but still have not received a reply. Our society bring on average about 45 – 50 players a week to Olagolf on Mondays and Fridays so we feel a reply is the least we could expect.

They have also discontinued the annual membership offer without notice and no alternative as yet. The members whose renewal was due shortly are not amused. this is very short sighted attitude – do they think that members who play 3 times a week are going to pay 3 green fees a week – I don’t think so!

Therefore although Condado is still our home course we will on occasions take our business elsewhere. Our 1st trip out will be to Hacienda del Alamo (just up the RM2) on April 1st. Another date has been booked there in May.

The price will be 39 euros per person. For a party of 20 or more, 2 players play free but we will incorporate that into the total bill which should reduce it to about 36 euros. The following extras will be included:

Buggy
Short game skills competition on the academy course
Range balls
Insurance
Hacienda will prepare all scorecards for the competition
Start times and scores will be shown on the championship scoreboard
Use of bar or terrace for presentation with decorated table and microphone
Complementary green fee voucher for prize

And now back to that important membership card. An agreement has been made between Hacienda and ourselves for special rates of play. If you produce your membership card for Condado de Alhama and your handicap certificate you will be able to play Hacienda throughout the year for only 35 euros. The current peak season rate is 59 euros.

They also offer a variety of membership offers which our disgruntled members may want to look at. One fee, no 7 euros per game. It may seem I am trying to entice our players at Condado away but no – just asking Olagolf to open their eyes and compete. Bring that clubhouse on NOW!

This how Olagolf should treat us. Hacienda have a superb clubhouse, 3 teaching professionals currently doing deals at 25 euros each or cheaper for groups. Summer twilight price is 25 euros. There is a golf director on site who will listen to queries or complaints. At Condado we have nothing and do all the work ourselves to make our society successful. We are having to go elsewhere to get the deals Olagolf should be giving us. Are you listening Olagolf?

Unless Olagolf become more professional we will arrange many more awaydays on Fridays leaving them an empty course.

Next week is a 3 person texas scramble and the sheet will be in the clubhouse or alternatively email me at barrybarker90@yahoo.co.uk The following week the Friday competition has been moved to Thursday (no Friday comp on the 18th March). The reason for this is some of our Irish members wanted to play a comp on St Patricks day (March 17th) as they wouldn’t be fit to play on the 18th! We were glad to agree to their request. Cath may organise a night out after, although there is a St Patrick’s night party at the Clover from 4pm with 12 bottles of Estrella for only 10 euros!

The weather was excellent and the greenkeepers have spent all week repairing and seeding the rough areas. The greens are still very fast.

We were informed yesterday that annual membership is no longer available on all Olagolf courses. This is very strange as many players have taken advantage of the membership offer since xmas. At 1080e (single) and 1350e (family) it was a really good deal.

It seems that Olagolf now wish golfers to take up 10 or 15 year membership instead. As I get more details I will post them on the website. Very strange as in the current economic climate people just don’t have that kind of money. Also after the near collapse of Polaris World last year who knows what will happen next?

It seems very short sighted. When current membership deals run out players are going to look around other courses for the best deals even though we have the best course in the area on our doorstep. The members play our own course rather than pay to play other courses, so it is likely Olagolf will lose that loyalty. If it is better for our members the Society will look at other venues.

Remember from March 1st any golfer wishing to play at society times and benefit from our reduced rates will need to become a member. This is an annual payment of 5 euros, but our rate is 10 euros below the residents rate. The money raised will pay for admin costs and the rest will be for the benefit of the members (trophies etc.).

Next week is an individual stableford and times booked will be from 09.00 to 10.30.

Dave Lloyd (one of the founders) has agreed to take up the position of competitions secretary. When he is not at Condado Graham White will fill in for him.

Last night was another society event at Scot’tees for fish and chip night and a quiz (won by the locals as usual). Cath is looking at different types of nights out for us.

Please be aware that proof of an active handicap is required when joining or renewing membership with the society. If no proof of handicap can be shown then the member will not be eligible to win a major competition until three cards have been returned.
See Handicapping Policy
For further info on CONGU/EGA conversion see here